Rants about whatever I am agitated enough to write. Usually related to civil liberties, religion or IT.

Friday, June 12, 2015

More Website Blocking for Australia

Now that Netflix is available in Australia, you might think you don't need a VPN. Think again.

The government, with opposition support, is planning to pass more site-blocking legislation, ostensibly to address piracy this time. They're even considering whether VPNs should be legal or not. There's no way they will criminalize them until a few more rounds of fascist scope creep have occurred, but whether or not they're ultimately successful, they will try.

When they finally do attempt to criminalize VPNs, there'll be a mental test, with the law worded something like "using a VPN with intent to access illegal services". Then it will be modified to "using a VPN in a way that could reasonably be considered to be for bad things m'kay". And there'll be a carve-out to protect business use, so that businesses don't complain and the government can screw individuals without endangering their campaign finances.